


Stepping on Galaxies

by averyseptember



Category: K-pop, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Actor Jeon Jungkook, Actor Kim Seokjin | Jin, Alternate Universe - Actors, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Smut, Kim Seokjin | Jin-centric, M/M, Makeup Artist Jeon Jungkook, Side Jihope, heavy work in progress ;-;, side namgi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 13:20:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28867689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/averyseptember/pseuds/averyseptember
Summary: Jin has never been one for space travel, never thought he could really understand the wonder of traveling the galaxy.That all changes when he sees the stars in Jungkook’s eyes.-Actor AU but make it ins p a c e
Relationships: Jeon Jungkook/Kim Seokjin | Jin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4
Collections: Interstellar Fest





	Stepping on Galaxies

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [interstellarfest](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/interstellarfest) collection. 



“Could you stop that?”

“Oh, I-I’m sorry.”

Jin looks up from the man’s knee—which he now has his hand grasped over, keeping it from shaking—up to his face. Round, long, and with an equally as long nose, the man’s face holds a smile that barely hangs on around the edges as his nerves visibly consume him.

Jin almost immediately feels bad for snapping at him, but he _was_ shaking the entirety of their linked seats. Before he can say anything else, the man faces forward again, so Jin does the same. In the corner of his eye, he can see the man’s knee twitch beneath his hand.

A short-lived silence passes before the entire cabin jolts, and the man promptly yelps, Jin cringing slightly at the sudden attack on his right ear.

“Sorry! I’m sorry.” The man’s fists are still raised to his chest in surprise as he apologizes.

“It’s okay, I—”

Jin is promptly cut off by the chime of the ship’s intercom, and a woman’s gravelly voice speaks through the static from somewhere in the ceiling.

“Hello, esteemed passengers,” her tone is slightly facetious, “Welcome aboard the Epsilon-61313, my name is Pilot Lim and I’ll be your—well, pilot—for this afternoon.” 

The screen in front of Jin and the other man springs to life, displaying a little animated globe with their flight path displayed as the pilot continues to give her spiel.

“We will be landing in Seoul, Korea in just a bit over three hours, where the time will be approximately 10AM on February 26th, 2114. The little rumble just now—my apologies—was our ship leaving dock as we ferry to the takeoff zone. Please keep all electronic devices on flight mode until we enter the thermosphere, and keep your seat fasteners buckled up until we leave the outer exosphere. Your flight attendants will inform you when you’re free to roam about the cabin. Thank you, please relax and enjoy your flight.”

The pilot’s voice is promptly replaced with another, explaining emergency procedures first in English and then in Korean. Jin tunes it out since he’s heard it all before, instead zoning out as he watches a male flight attendant on the screen demonstrate how to attach and tighten the seat fasteners. A clink interrupts his stupor and he turns to find the man holding up two of the straps to inspect them, brows furrowed and lips pouted in a child-like confusion. 

Jin scoffs and reaches a hand over, removing one of the straps from the man’s hand and then reaching down for a different one. 

“This one connects with that one, and then this one connects with the one across.” Jin explains in Korean.

The man’s eyes widen for a second, but he quickly follows Jin’s directions. Then,

“You speak Korean?” he asks, in the said language.

Jin confirms, and the man visibly relaxes. “Thank you, for your help.”

“Of course.” Jin replies, settling back into his seat. An awkward moment passes as the flight attendant finally stops talking on the intercom, but Jin slowly starts to drift off in his seat. 

The peaceful minutes don’t last, and he’s jolted awake by a rumbling of the cabin, indicating their ship is beginning its launch setup. No yelp this time, though. He instead turns to find the other man with his eyes shut tight, hands gripping his armrests with fingers whitened. Jin frowns, feeling sorry.

“Is this your first time flying?”

The man’s eyes open, and they turn to meet Jin. He tries to offer a comforting eyebrow raise and smile, but it only half works.

“Um…” he bites his lip, “I’ve been in normal planes before, but never in an astroplane.”

“Ah I see,” Jin responds softly. “Don’t worry, it's not much different. The food is just as bad.”

The man lets out a scoff, and Jin celebrates a small victory in the color that returns to his knuckles. 

“I-I know, I just… would it kill them to have windows in here or something?”

Jin looks around the cabin. Even in First Class, if you were to strip away the plush blue carpet, the screens decorating the walls, and the preppily dressed flight attendants, it would leave nothing more than the inside a metal box, with three rows of large paired seats, fairly wide aisleways in between.

"Yea I know," Jin answers as he observes a flight attendant almost spill coffee on an angry businessman, "but I've heard the windows are too expensive to put too many for passengers, they don't have any in the interplanetary ships either."

He hears the man shift a bit in his seat. "You've been on those? Like the ones going to Mars and the Moon?"

Jin turns back to wide, curious eyes. He sees flashes of wonder in them, family trips and graduation ceremonies. He sees cockpits and captain's bridges, navy jumpsuits and patches of honor.

But there's more. Rumbling metal cages and too tight seat-belts. Cracks in glass and walls caving in. Black silk and rain on a Sunday. Black, so much black.

_...A void._

He looks away, breaking the eye contact to distract himself with a carpet stain near his shoe.

"Yea, a couple of times. When I was younger."

"What are they like?"

Jin's heartbeat has stabilized by now. When had it stuttered?

"U-Uh," he clears his throat. "They're pretty much the same, the cabins are a bit fancier, though. Still no windows, yea."

"Whoa, those have always sounded so crazy to me. Going so far from Earth..."

To Jin's luck, the intercom dings again indicating the launch is finally beginning, so the flight attendants head back to their seats and the jumpy man retreats back into his seat cushions to brace himself.

The takeoff is smoother than others Jin has experienced, but his row partner still recites fifteen different prayers from at least four different religions. Jin doesn't protest when he grasps a hand around his arm.

"A cultured man, I see."

"Shut up."

Half an hour later, Jin is flipping through the channels on their screen when he comes up to a feed from a camera placed somewhere on the outside of the ship. Peeking out from behind a wing, the Earth floats among a sea of black, somehow both drab and lush, ocean blues mixed with flowing greens and barren oranges. Jin nudges the man's elbow and points.

"I-Is that where we are right now?"

"Yup." Jin nods as he yawns, bringing the back of his hand up to his mouth to cover the strings of saliva that probably hang between his teeth.

"That's actually more terrifying, I take back what I said about windows." He moves up in his seat and grabs the remote to change the channel.

"—orea's heartthrob Actor Kim Seokjin is rumored to be ending his year-long hiatus, after reportedly being in contact with the duo of rising indie film directors known as BomNal Productions."

Jin cringes and reaches for the remote. When he grabs it he can't seem to remove it from his seat partner's hand, as his eyes are fixed on the screen.

"T-That's... you." His voice gets higher with each word.

Jin gives up on trying to change the channel and sits back into his seat, sighing. He watches as the man's knee begins to shake again, gaze alternating between Jin's face and his face displayed beside the news anchor on the screen. One of Jin's more favored photoshoots, luckily.

"You're.... Kim Seokjin. I... I held Kim Seokjin's hand cause I was scared."

Jin laughs and winks at the knee-shaker. He flinches.

"Technically, you held my wrist, but if you wanted to hold my hand you could've asked."

"I-I... I just—" he sputters, but Jin doesn't show any mercy.

"Am I that ugly bare-faced that you didn't notice?"

The poor guy is _mortified._ "No! Not at all I just... you know Yoongi and Namjoon?"

Jin blinks. That wasn't one of the questions he was expecting.

"Oh... Yea I do. We were primary school classmates."

"I met Yoongi at university. I'm his best friend. Sorry, I'm Jung Hoseok."

Cutting himself off, he hesitantly reaches his hand out. Jin shakes it firmly.

"Nice to meet you, Hoseok-ssi. How old are you?"

Hoseok sits back in his seat, not breaking the starstruck eye contact he holds with Jin. "I'm Namjoon's age."

"Great, call me hyung. Are we both heading to Seoul for the filming, then?"

For the first time since their plane left the ground, Hoseok smiles, and Jin is almost taken aback by how bright and bubbly he seems when he's not scared. At the mention of the production, he lights up, the color returning to his face and his eyes crescenting in shape, small crinkles framing them.

"Yes! I work as a stylist, and—um, don't tell anyone but—I referred my boyfriend and now he's cast for the other lead role."

Jin returns the smile. "Wow, you're dating Jimin? Lucky man."

Hoseok blushes, and the sight is so endearing that Jin almost feels his ears heat up as well.

"Lucky indeed," he almost whispers.

Jin and Hoseok talk for almost the next half hour straight, quickly dropping the awkwardness of plane seat acquaintances for the excitement of newfound friends through mutual connections. Jin learns that Hoseok was in America visiting family, and Jin tells him about how he's been living in America during his hiatus. Hoseok would have preferred a regular airplane for the flight back but had a family event this morning, so had to opt for an astroplane for the quick travel time.

"I'm glad I was able to meet you this way though," he muses. "I was gonna meet you anyway, but I think this made it less scary than if I met you in the dressing room."

Jin laughs at that. "I promise I wouldn't have been scary there either."

"Are you kidding? With those shoulder measurements? Any reasonable stylist would be _terrified._ "

Eventually, their conversations taper off and Hoseok falls asleep. He jolts awake right as they touch down at the airport, and instinctually reaches out and squeezes Jin's hand, who already had it held out for him. Jin laughs and to his success, Hoseok breaks out into giggles as well, as the cabin's rumbles slowly die out to a stillness, indicating that they landed safe and sound in Seoul.

After landing in Seoul, Jin invites Hoseok to come with his escort to the hotel. Hoseok is a little overwhelmed by the crowd of fans and flashing cameras at the airport that the security escorts them through, but claims he's "braved worse before" as they're squished into a van, their bags already fetched and placed in the trunk. It's still morning in Korea, so Jin asks the driver to stop by somewhere to grab a coffee. A manager ends up taking their orders and going inside alone, to avoid Jin being seen.

They finally let their guard down in the hotel lobby, where everyone there is either too professional or too prideful to swarm Korea's heart-throb actor.

"See you at cold reading," Hoseok waves as he starts to walk towards the elevators.

"1 o'clock sharp." Jin clicks his tongue and shoots a finger gun.

* * *

Looking back, Jin remembers the quiet but burning ambition in his childhood dongsaeng, only ever visible if you looked right into his eyes, sparks and embers peeking out from between the bangs of his retrospectively regrettable bowl cut. 

Yoongi had always been more reserved and appeared more mellowed out compared to Namjoon, but Jin knew the dragon’s breath that rested within his lungs, could almost remember seeing the smoke rising from his ears every time he stepped behind a camera.

Despite progressing in the same industry for years, Jin has never worked on a full-fledged film with the two until now. This remains a fact that Jin feels guilty about, but he knows in reality is nobody’s fault but the simple distance that grew between them as they branched out and grew in their own careers, far past the old coffee-fueled nights and phone-flashlight-lighted sets of their secondary school video projects.

Soon after graduating from secondary, Jin’s acting career skyrocketed from the remaining fame he gained as a child, almost as if the multiple years he took to finish his schooling had no aging effects on the charm his thirteen year-old self had placed on all of Korea. Even while attempting to attend a prestigious acting academy, Jin was signed into drama after drama, and eventually movie after movie. He was awarded his first acting daesang in 2108 for his role in _Abyss,_ at the age of 21, continuing on to earn international awards the years after. His childhood friends, however, had no such advantage.

Kim Namjoon and Min Yoongi, dating for almost as long as Jin has known them (read: almost ten years now), had both dropped out of university in their second and third years (respectively) to form BomNal Productions, after deciding that an aerospace engineering degree and a pre-law political science degree (respectively) were practical, but not the dreams of filmmaking that they truly desired to pursue. Jin wasn't in close contact with them for those couple years, busy getting swept up in his own success, but he knows that in this time they struggled, entering projects into festival after festival and receiving little to no attention or recognition. Even though they never would have asked it of him, Jin wishes he had reached out earlier to help them get the push they needed, the push they earned.

They ended up not really needing it, however, as a year ago, their film, _Respect_ , a film written, produced, and even starring the two had become an overnight internet sensation, fans first in Korea and all over the world falling for the dynamic and chemistry between the two onscreen and off. They had snagged a fair amount of awards at multiple festivals and gathered enough attention to warrant a good amount of investors, the money gained which they are now using to launch the production of their first feature-length film.

Jin had begun exchanging messages and calls with Namjoon regularly during the production of _Respect_ , having started his hiatus and finally having the time and energy to reconnect with his childhood friend with more than just the occasional "Happy Birthday" or "Happy Anniversary" text. Due to this, he was happily able to send multiple texts of congratulations when the project had picked up momentum, being able to spam their Kakaotalk conversations with multiple article links and messages consisting of nothing but "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!". The moment Namjoon had mentioned they were looking into a full feature-length, Jin had brought up the idea of coming out of hiatus to work with them.

_"I-If you'd have me, Joon-ah." Jin had said._

_Namjoon had smiled at his phone camera, picking it up and holding it at an angle where Jin could make out his dimples, crescent shadows framing his mouth matching the way his eyes squinted with joy._

_"Hyung, nothing would make me happier."_

Despite still being a small indie film company with preliminary investor funds, Jin fears that Namjoon and Yoongi have taken on some sort of odd obligation to make everything about the production extravagant and top-tier to “deserve" Jin's Oscar-level presence, even if only on the surface. Jin knows they don't have the billions of won backing them like other projects he’s been a part of, but the last thing he wants to do is patronize anyone, so he hold back any concerns behind a raised eyebrow when Namjoon emails him the details for the ostentatious hotel they’ve rented out a good _quarter of_ for the cast and crew during filming.

The eyebrow remains raised as he stands in the said hotel’s ballroom, staring down at a table with a lunch catering spread that looks far more expensive than he thinks Yoongi would _ever_ approve of ordering. There’s a multitude of different options, but Jin stares down at the authentically prepared bánh mì sandwiches cut and sectioned out for little hand-size portions, the marinated pork and pickled vegetables glistening in the sunlight that comes from the skylight windows above him. The concern of price and frugality is lost on one of the actresses, who comes up to stand beside him, squealing and loading a good five or six onto her plate. 

She turns to him, almost as if she just noticed him there, her puffy cheeks bulging, most likely with aforementioned yummy pork.

“Hi!” she mumbles cheerily with a full mouth. “I’m Chuu!”

The brunette girl has trimmed bangs resting right above her eyes, which are crescented as she smiles up at him. Her cheeks are rosy, matching her soft pink blouse, but her skin is pale, so much so that she almost reflects all the sunlight from the windows right into Jin’s eyes. Jin squints down at the sunny girl, reaching out to shake her free hand. He recognizes the name and remembers that this is one of his lead co-stars, a completely industry-fresh actress that Yoongi had plucked from the streets of Seoul.

“Nice to meet you, Chuu...ssi,” he struggles with what to say, having spent a year away and out of practice of making small talk with new coworkers. “I look forward to working with you.”

Luckily, she doesn’t seem to even pay mind to his hesitance, only smiling brighter at his formality. “It’s an honor to work with you, Seokjin-ssi.”

After a little more small talk—Jin insisting Chuu drop the “Seokjin-ssi” and just call him “oppa”—Chuu helps Jin pick out the best choices from the spread for lunch, the two then making their way from the catering table to their seats in the center of the large room. 

The ballroom is obviously made for banquets, a stage and podium at the head of the room, but has now been converted into a headquarters to fit almost an entire production crew, computers and cameras and projector screens set up for multiple groups, a large round table set up for the main cast and directors in the center of the area.

Nayeon sits at the seat next to the one assigned to Jin, and as he approaches she turns back in the chair to face him. Her short brown hair stops just above her shoulders to frame her face, one side tucked behind her ear. She smirks and Jin rolls his eyes.

"First time seeing you in nice clothes in a while," Jin sits in his chair and begins to eat after giving Nayeon's blazer and pencil skirt a once-over.

"First time seeing you in clothes in a while."

Jin chokes on a bite and kicks Nayeon's shin under the table. Nayeon bursts into laughter and Jin has to force himself to swallow so he can tell her to shut up. His whole face is burning as he coughs.

"Quiet! There are people staring."

Nayeon ignores him, still laughing herself to tears. She punches him on the shoulder as if to let out one final tease, before turning back to multiple tablets she has in front of her, swiping around multiple tabs on one of them.

"Could you imagine the money I'd get if I did interviews? 'Actor Kim Seokjin Regularly Facetimes His Agent Shirtless While on Hiatus' would make a great tabloid headline."

Jin glares at her profile, specifically at her nose, since she doesn't look up from the document she's scrolling through, still smiling to herself and her own joke.

Jin jabs back, like always. "Well first off, you have a girlfriend, and everyone in Korea knows I like dick, so I doubt the rumors would make their way around for very long."

Nayeon chuckles a little as she turns back to him, holding out the tablet.

"Here's what we'll be going over today. You already looked through all the PDFs I sent you of the script?"

"Every page."

Nayeon reaches over and plucks a mandu from Jin's plate. She plops it into her mouth and smiles at him, cheeks full.

"Let's work your magic, then."

It takes a while for the rest of the main cast to filter into the room and to the table, but by the time 1:30 comes everybody is sat down, the rest of the crew sat at outer tables and at computers. Namjoon and Yoongi had told Jin he didn't need to have any of the preliminary rehearsals or readthroughs, so this is his first time seeing any of the other cast (like Chuu). Jin was already sat down with Nayeon when his other co-stars came in, so despite them all being at the table, now he didn't get the chance to meet them formerly yet.

Yoongi and Namjoon sit at the two seats opposite Jin and Nayeon, and Namjoon calls the room to silence to start the meeting.

"Hello, everyone. Thank you all for working so diligently this morning and afternoon, I hope you all enjoyed your lunch. I am honored to say that we will now begin the first reading of Moonchildren. I understand that this our first time with the whole cast and crew in one place, so I'd like to start with a couple of introductions. I and Kim Namjoon," he places his hand on his chest, "and this is Min Yoongi," he holds out a hand to his right to gesture at Yoongi, who raises his own hand to wave. Jin feels a long-dormant mirth flutter in his chest seeing them play their usual good-cop bad-cop game, Namjoon being the approachable gentle-giant dimply-smile director while Yoongi broods beside him, the intimidating main screenwriter, always shrouded by a slightly dark aura.

Jin giggles at the sight, Yoongi's effect lost on him after too many early day sleepovers, seeing the younger curl up into Joon and drift off to sleep like a cat curled up against its owner.

The ice breaker of introductions go by fairly quickly. Chuu, sat to Yoongi's right, goes first, telling everyone that she will be playing the role of Eunjung, the spunky prodigy Engineer of the ship. Next to her is Jimin, who is cast as Kyungtae, the second down the line of command to Jin’s character. After him is a series of assistant directors, followed by a woman by the name of Seoyun, playing Areum, the character that is supposed to be Jin’s character’s wife. After her, Nayeon lacklusterly introduces herself as Jin’s agent and manager, and then finally, everyone’s eyes are on Jin. Since the start of the meeting he could see everyone sneaking glances at him—the only one choosing not to just stare being Chuu—but now, their eyes are unhesitant and piercing.

Jin is sure that everyone in this room is as skilled and qualified as him to be here, but he is no fool to how the industry lives and breathes: by experience, by reputation, by _fame_ . Jin is the only one here that has a relatively large amount of all three, and he can feel the odd mix of fear, admiration, and jealousy in the gazes that scrutinize him. He’s the one they're all putting their money on, the one they expect to perform, to jumpstart them to success. He knows this, in fact signed up for _exactly_ this, if only in repentance for his childhood friends. 

Whether he likes it or not, the pressure is on. Even without the camera rolling, the performance begins.

So, Jin does what he does best:

_Perform._

**Author's Note:**

> Hi ! Thank you so much for reading ! I am so excited to write and release this, but at the moment I only have this first section ready to publish. If you liked it or are interested in reading more, please consider leaving a kudos, subscription, or bookmark !!


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